1867.J 41 
As for food, it is a more complex affair. If one looks at A. agathina and 
porphyrea, A. myrtilli, C. Ecmorthii, a^d other heath-feeders, they seem made up 
of heather stalks and flowers ; and the members of the genus Retinea carry a very 
similar appearance to the pine shoots in which their larvse feed. Perhaps geolo- 
gical influences on the vegetation may cause such differences as we meet with in 
Sciaphila Penziana, in which species the Cornwall and Westmoreland specimens 
are similar, while those from the Isle of Man are slate-coloured, and the Scotch 
(Colquhcnmmia) again are more suffused than the Irish ones. 
I scarcely think that varieties can be produced by substituting other than the 
regular food ; but I am quite aware of having seen a fine series of the " cun-ant- 
moth " (A. grossulomata), which had been fed up on lettuce, and had departed from 
the common type. But what were the parents like ? 
I have no doubt that in currant moths the various forms become hereditary. 
They and "tigers" {A. Caja) and "eraiines" are almost like domesticated animals, 
and will Uve upon what is set before them.— J. B. Hodgkinson, Preston. 
J^ote on retardation of the pupal stage in Lepidoptera. — The gentlemen who have 
done me the honour to criticise my passing remarks on variety -breeding appear to 
credit me with the paternity of the assertion that variation in the imago may be 
caused by retarding or cutting short the duration of the pupal stage. I have 
already stated that this is not my own original idea. 
Any one desiring further information on the subject, will find papers to the 
point, by distinguished authors, interspersed among the Entomological literature 
of the Continent. For example, in the French "Annales" for 1858, p. 301, the late 
Mons. Bellier de la Chavignerie remarks to the following effect : — " One day a 
" friend of mine brought me several Vanessa urticas, which, owing to the wings 
" being excessively dark and adorned with large, intensely black spots, immediately 
" excited my admiration : he assured me that these remarkable specimens had been 
" reared from backward larvs collected by him in the autumn, and that he had 
" delayed the appearance of the perfect insect by keeping the pupse in an ice- 
" house." It seems to me, therefore, that, rather than discuss the question at the 
present time, it would be better to set about investigating this interesting matter 
patiently and practically. — H. G. Knaggs, May llth, 1867. 
A day's collecting at West Wickham Wood. — On the 3rd of this month I paid a 
visit to West Wickham Wood, with my friend Mr. G. B. Longstaff. The weather 
presented a lovely contrast to that of the previous fortnight, and the sun shone 
brightly all day from a nearly cloudless sky. Proceeding from Croydon towards 
the little village of Addington, we examined a great extent of fence, in the hope 
of— but alas ! without— taking carmelita. The lovely "prominent " was not to be 
found ; indeed the fence was unusually bare, and nothing fell in our way beyond 
X. lithorhiza, E. nanata, and T. punctulata. After a brief halt at the little Addington 
inn, we struck into the wood, where F. aiomaria, already well out, was enjoying 
the sunshine among the heather. An occasional specimen of L. petraria was to be 
beaten from the brushwood ; and a Brepana — to all appearance falcataria — con- 
